Welcome to NY Botanical Garden Main Tour

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Welcome trail

Welcome

Tour stop audio transcript

DRAFT: Welcome to The New York Botanical Garden. This living museum has served as an oasis in the busy metropolis of New York City since its founding in 1891. Over one million living plants can be found across the 250-acre site in a wide array of indoor and outdoor gardens and collections. This tour will introduce some of our most beloved locations. Before we get started, let me explain the many ways in which you can explore our historic landscape: - You can click on the front facing arrow to start Walking through the Garden - You can also jump to the Next Stop by clicking on the Next Stop button - Now, if you already know where you want to go, you can select any location by using the list OR by clicking directly on the map - Lastly, remember that you can explore any particular location in more detail by clicking on the 360, Photos, or Video icons.

You are now on the 3rd point on the Welcome trail coming from Welcome on your way to Enid A. Haupt Conservatory.

Leon Levy Visitor Center

Tour stop audio transcript

DRAFT: The Leon Levy Visitor Center is the portal that marks the passage from the city to the peaceful landscape of The New York Botanical Garden. From the Reflecting Pool paths will guide you to all corners of the Garden, with an endless variety of gardens and collections. Take a moment to notice how the natural beauty of the landscape is emphasized with earthy colors and stone facades of the low buildings surrounding the peaceful plaza of the Leon Levy Visitor center. This space was designed by Hugh Hardy to harmonize with its surroundings and opened in 2004. Here you can plan your visit with the help of our friendly staff, learn about the Garden's mission, and enjoy refreshments in the Pine Tree Café, which offers a varied menu with fresh seasonal ingredients. When your visit is complete, the Shop in the Garden is the perfect place to find a piece of the Garden to take home with you!

You are now on the 7th point on the Welcome trail coming from Leon Levy Visitor Center on your way to Enid A. Haupt Conservatory.

You are now on the 9th point on the Welcome trail coming from Leon Levy Visitor Center on your way to Enid A. Haupt Conservatory.

You are now on the 11th point on the Welcome trail coming from Leon Levy Visitor Center on your way to Enid A. Haupt Conservatory.

Nancy Bryan Luce Herb Garden

Tour stop audio transcript

DRAFT: Delight in the fragrance and soft beauty of the Herb Garden's green, gray, purple, and white blend of foliage and flowers. The evergreen boxwood parterre, this garden's formal centerpiece designed by Penelope Hobhouse, provides symmetry and structure amid a wide assortment of textures and fragrances. You may spot the shiny green leaves of bay laurel or the spiky flowers of sage plants. Look for hops, a key ingredient in beer, and wandering nasturtiums, whose edible flowers are a beautiful addition to a summer salad. It's all here, wrapped up in a delightful package.

You are now on the 15th point on the Welcome trail coming from Nancy Bryan Luce Herb Garden on your way to Enid A. Haupt Conservatory.

You are now on the 17th point on the Welcome trail coming from Nancy Bryan Luce Herb Garden on your way to Enid A. Haupt Conservatory.

Jane Watson Irwin Perennial Garden

Tour stop audio transcript

DRAFT: A vast palette of colors and textures, flowers and foliage makes the Jane Watson Irwin Perennial Garden a living work of art. Its creator, Lynden B. Miller, is a notable garden designer and former painter. Follow the path through all four themed areas, or "rooms." Each contains a distinctive assemblage of plants selected for their color or seasonality. Throughout the year the garden offers an ever-changing display of annuals, flowering bulbs, grasses, and shrubs. You will always discover something new to admire, and maybe even find inspiration for your own garden.

You are now on the 21st point on the Welcome trail coming from Jane Watson Irwin Perennial Garden on your way to Enid A. Haupt Conservatory.

You are now on the 23rd point on the Welcome trail coming from Jane Watson Irwin Perennial Garden on your way to Enid A. Haupt Conservatory.

You are now on the 25th point on the Welcome trail coming from Jane Watson Irwin Perennial Garden on your way to Enid A. Haupt Conservatory.

Enid A. Haupt Conservatory

Tour stop audio transcript

DRAFT: The New York Botanical Garden is a living museum, and nowhere is this more evident than inside the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory. Here you can tour the plants of the world in a single visit—majestic palms, prehistoric cycads, endangered orchids, and cactus curiosities can all be found here in 11 galleries spanning habitats ranging from rainforest to desert. The Garden's world-class changing plant exhibitions, including the Holiday Train Show and The Orchid Show are held here annually. This stunning building—more than an acre under glass—was constructed in the early 1900s. It is the largest Victorian-era glasshouse in the United States and a New York City Landmark. The soaring 90-foot dome provides shelter to thousands of plants from all over the world just waiting to be discovered by our visitors.

Arthur and Janet Ross Conifer Arboretum trail

Arthur and Janet Ross Conifer Arboretum

Tour stop audio transcript

DRAFT: The Arthur and Janet Ross Conifer Arboretum is a piece of living history that offers you a walk through the Garden's past. Many of these irreplaceable trees were among the first planted in the early 1900s. They are among the oldest and most distinguished of the Garden's living collections. Among these venerable evergreens are rare and historic specimens from around the world, many grown from seed collected in the wild by Garden scientists and horticulturists a century ago. The specimens planted here are drawn from the alpine forests of the American West, the windswept shores of Japan, and the boreal forests of Alaska. The conifers are interplanted with flowering trees, including cherries, which add bursts of pink to the blue-green conifer palette in the spring and early summer. When the deciduous trees drop their foliage each autumn, these stalwart evergreens can be fully appreciated.

You are now on the 7th point on the Arthur and Janet Ross Conifer Arboretum trail coming from Arthur and Janet Ross Conifer Arboretum on your way to LuEsther T. Mertz Library.

You are now on the 9th point on the Arthur and Janet Ross Conifer Arboretum trail coming from Arthur and Janet Ross Conifer Arboretum on your way to LuEsther T. Mertz Library.

You are now on the 11th point on the Arthur and Janet Ross Conifer Arboretum trail coming from Arthur and Janet Ross Conifer Arboretum on your way to LuEsther T. Mertz Library.

You are now on the 13th point on the Arthur and Janet Ross Conifer Arboretum trail coming from Arthur and Janet Ross Conifer Arboretum on your way to LuEsther T. Mertz Library.

LuEsther T. Mertz Library

Tour stop audio transcript

DRAFT: The LuEsther T. Mertz Library is the academic and intellectual center of The New York Botanical Garden. The collection is truly interdisciplinary, and includes over 550,000 books on botanical science, horticulture, and landscape design, with journals in more than 70 languages, attracting researchers from all over the world. The Library is open to the public, and plant information specialists are on duty answering email and phone questions from all over the world. World-class exhibitions of rare books and priceless works of art can be viewed in the Library's Art Gallery. These exhibitions are often related to the exhibitions held in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, providing visitors with a chance to experience the art and science of the plant world.

Garden Tram Main Stop trail

Garden Tram Main Stop

Tour stop audio transcript

DRAFT: Originating across from the Reflecting Pool, the Garden Tram isn't just a great way to get around the Garden's 250 acres, it features a narrated tour, offering insight on the Garden's collections, history, and programs. Wheelchair accessible, the 20-minute tour features nine stops around the garden, to hop off and explore at your own enjoyment.

You are now on the 9th point on the Garden Tram Main Stop trail coming from Garden Tram Main Stop on your way to Everett Children’s Adventure Garden.

You are now on the 11th point on the Garden Tram Main Stop trail coming from Garden Tram Main Stop on your way to Everett Children’s Adventure Garden.

You are now on the 13th point on the Garden Tram Main Stop trail coming from Garden Tram Main Stop on your way to Everett Children’s Adventure Garden.

You are now on the 15th point on the Garden Tram Main Stop trail coming from Garden Tram Main Stop on your way to Everett Children’s Adventure Garden.

You are now on the 17th point on the Garden Tram Main Stop trail coming from Garden Tram Main Stop on your way to Everett Children’s Adventure Garden.

Everett Children’s Adventure Garden

Tour stop audio transcript

DRAFT: The Children's Adventure Garden is home to the Garden's innovative, STEM-based educational programs. Kids can explore a maze, visit a waterfall, scramble up a path of boulders, and check out plants from cattails to flowers arranged in caterpillar topiaries in this lively, immersive space. In the William and Linda Steere Discovery Center kids can brush up on their scientific skills of observing, experimenting, and predicting. An imaginative staff and a corps of energetic teen Explainers hailing from all over the city bring seasonal activities to life here every day. Try potting a plant, studying insects, or observing colors and shapes in nature. And keep an eye out for birds, chipmunks, rabbits, and squirrels as you traverse the inviting paths.

You are now on the 21st point on the Garden Tram Main Stop trail coming from Everett Children’s Adventure Garden.

You are now on the 23rd point on the Garden Tram Main Stop trail coming from Everett Children’s Adventure Garden.

You are now on the 25th point on the Garden Tram Main Stop trail coming from Everett Children’s Adventure Garden.

You are now on the 27th point on the Garden Tram Main Stop trail coming from Everett Children’s Adventure Garden.

Native Plant Garden trail

Native Plant Garden

Tour stop audio transcript

DRAFT: Since its founding, The New York Botanical Garden has been dedicated to preserving, displaying, and teaching about plants that are native to northeastern North America. The Native Plant Garden is the perfect place to learn more about these plants and their important role in the web of life. In 3.5 acres, nearly 100,000 native trees, shrubs and wildflowers harmonize with the stunning natural landscape in every season. You can stroll through shaded woodland, a lush wetland, and an open meadow, and take in the serene beauty of the recycled stormwater pool, filtered naturally by aquatic plants. This garden is a magnet for a colorful array of birds, butterflies, dragonflies, and other insects as well as frogs, squirrels, and chipmunks. The Native Plant Garden is a gift of the Leon Levy Foundation.

You are now on the 5th point on the Native Plant Garden trail coming from Native Plant Garden.

You are now on the 7th point on the Native Plant Garden trail coming from Native Plant Garden.

Thain Family Forest trail

Thain Family Forest

Tour stop audio transcript

DRAFT: As you walk the paths of the Thain Family Forest, you are treading through the largest enduring tract of New York's native woodland. Many of the trees are several centuries old. This forest's unique beauty is one of the reasons the founders selected this site for the Garden in 1895. Forests of this age are called old-growth forests. Today less than one percent of the woodland in the entire northeastern United States is considered old-growth. The age and urban location of this forest have made it a living laboratory, attracting researchers from all over the world to study how forest ecosystems adapt to the changes around them. It is also the perfect place to lose yourself in the overwhelming beauty of untouched nature without leaving New York City.

You are now on the 3rd point on the Thain Family Forest trail coming from Thain Family Forest.

Azalea Garden trail

Azalea Garden

Tour stop audio transcript

DRAFT: The May crescendo of white, coral, pink, and purple azalea blossoms here in the Azalea Garden is one of NYBG's most striking seasonal spectacles. Set among the dramatic rock outcrops, steep slopes, and dappled shade of centuries-old native trees, this garden is beautiful throughout the seasons. Alongside the azaleas and rhododendrons, you'll find a diverse assortment of flowering trees and shrubs, woodland perennials, bulbs, ferns and grasses, and an array of wildflowers and woodland bulbs. The Azalea Garden is a project of Mr. and Mrs. Richard L. Chilton, Jr.

Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden trail

Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden

Tour stop audio transcript

DRAFT: Inside the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden you will find more than 4,000 rose plants in 680 varieties With flowers in peak bloom from mid-May through October, this fragrant garden is also one of the most sustainably managed public rose gardens in the world. Plants have been selected for their resistance to disease and pests, as well as for their beauty. Originally designed in 1916 by landscape designer Beatrix Farrand, the Rose Garden was not completed according to her vision until 1988 through a generous gift from David Rockefeller. At this time the fence and central gazebo, which could not be completed at the time of the garden's original construction because of iron shortages during World War I, were completed.

Edible Academy

Tour stop audio transcript

DRAFT: At the Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden, everyone—ages 3 to 100—is encouraged to play in the dirt. You're also invited to dig for worms, plant seeds, and learn about foods grown around the world. The garden you see before you is a group effort - a combination of visitors, volunteers, and staff makes this working garden the hub of activity you see before you. As part of the Children's Gardening Program hands-on activities, children care for one third of the Family Garden. Teacher professional development courses and school group gardening workshops round out the slate of programs the Family Garden has to offer. This site is the future home of the Edible Academy, a re-imagining of the Family Garden that will expand the garden and include a new, state-of-the-art building that will serve as the year-round hub for edible education at NYBG.

You are now on the 5th point on the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden trail coming from Edible Academy.

Hudson Garden Grill trail

Hudson Garden Grill

Tour stop audio transcript

DRAFT: Nestled within the idyllic setting of the 40-acre Ross Conifer Arboretum, Hudson Garden Grill is a sit-down dining destination helmed by award-winning Executive Chef Julian Alonzo. First class culinary creations are inspired by locally sourced and ethically produced ingredients. Seasonality and natural beauty also define the Hudson Garden Grill's recent construction. Designed by the architecture firm of Bentel & Bentel, the low banquet seating, walnut-topped bar, and open kitchen create an intimate space. The whitewashed red oak paneling is reclaimed from Garden trees felled by Hurricane Sandy.

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